Keene State (9-7, 4-1 LEC), winners of five straight, secures the
second seed in the upcoming LEC tournament with the win.
Plymouth State (4-8, 4-2 LEC), which saw its three-game winning
streak come to an end, clinches third place in the Little East
regular season, a marked improvement after finishing seventh last
year and getting picked fifth in this year's preseason poll.

The highly-contested game featured multiple momentum swings.
The Owls took the largest lead of the first half (4-2) on a goal by
sophomore Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.). The
Panthers answered with three straight goals going up 5-4 on a goal
by junior Kalie Judd (Peabody, Mass.).

Feeding Kirk for a goal that tied the game at 6-all, Sawyer picked
up her fourth assist of the game and 83rd of her career, breaking
the previous mark held by Michelle Mason. The teams went to
the locker room with the score knotted at 7-all.

After freshman Brianna Davis (Framingham, Mass.)
put PSU up 11-10 with a free position goal, KSC netted the next
three goals to take a 13-11 lead at the 15:01 mark. Kirk
scored on a feed from sophomore Jenny Lillis to give KSC a 12-11
lead and Persano fired in a close-range shot 30 seconds later to
give the Owls a two goal (13-11) lead.

A goal by Judd cut the lead to one (13-12), but Persano, racing
down the right side of the field, scored a key insurance goal for
KSC.

The Panthers had several opportunities to get back in the game, but
KSC senior goalie Jenn Gearing made key saves off the sticks of
Davis and senior Sarah Bryant (Arrowsic, Maine) in
the closing minutes of the game. Sophomore Jenny Lillis (West
Islip, N.Y.) put the game away with a late goal.

Kirk finished the game with four goals and junior Dene Tully
(Peabody, Mass.) scored a pair for the Owls. Davis and Judd
each had four goals for the Panthers and junior Taylor
Cambal (West Yarmouth, Mass.) added two goals and four
assists.

Keene State wraps up its regular season at Southern Maine on
Saturday (1 p.m.). The Panthers close out their regular
season Thursday at Colby-Sawyer (4:00 p.m.).